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London mayor is urged to let minicabs use bus lanes to avoid Tube strike chaos

London Mayor Boris Johnson is being urged to let minicabs use bus lanes in a bid to avoid gridlocked roads during this week's Tube strikes.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are set to walk out for three days from 9pm tomorrow in a long-running dispute over ticket office closures.

A two-day strike last week caused huge disruption, with roads clogged as people switched to other forms of transport.

Minicab app, Kabbee, which is home to 10,000 minicabs from 70 fleets across London, has asked Mr Johnson: "Why not let minicabs use bus lanes during strikes?"

The firm raised the issue after its hundreds of thousands of users were hit with the longer journey times caused by the industrial action.

We understand the need for industrial strike action in certain situations, but it's then up to Transport for London to help passengers get from A to B easily. Opening up the bus lanes to licensed minicabs during strikes would be a simple solution.

– Justin Peters, chief executive of Kabbee

Talks between the RMT and London Underground at the conciliation service Acas aimed at resolving the ticket office row broke down on Friday.

No further meetings are planned, so commuters face three days of travel misery after the Bank Holiday.